No Control (Chris Motionless)

Chapter 54 - To Submit

Everyone around me looked confused, but Lea was the one to speak up. 

"What do you mean?"

"He died, didn't he?" I questioned, trying not to choke on the words. "There was no way he survived all of that blood loss, right?"

"According to the doctors we've had a chance to talk to, he actually didn't lose that much blood despite his injuries. They said it was one of the strangest things they'd seen in a while."

"So... he's alive?"

"He just got out of intensive care yesterday," Cody explained in a gentle voice. It must have been clear that this information had my head spinning. "He should be okay after a while, but he will definitely have a few scars."

My head flopped back against the pillow, propping me up, willing my heart to calm down and decrease the frantic beeping of the heart monitor.  But then, a second later, another thought sprang to mind. "What about the cult? What did they do with them? And Detective Hudson and the other police officers? Where's Roy?"

Mackenzie finally speaks up at that. "When the cops came to free me from the cell the cult had thrown me in, he had to walk me through... that... that room. I'm almost certain that everyone in there was dead. Someone said they hadn't found survivors besides me in those tunnels."

"Hudson didn't survive his injuries," Lea explains with a melancholy shake of her head. "But the other police actually were able to catch Roy, and I don't have any doubt that he will be tried for murder in aiding his follower's mass suicide."

"It would be one of the few times the cops did what they were supposed to in this huge mess," Cody muttered, his jaw clenched to the point it hurt my teeth. "If they would've actually listened to you when you first came to them about what was happening, Blake would still..."

Silence refilled the space around us long before I asked, "Does his mom and Dani know what happened yet?"

They all nodded, and tears spilled from my eyes at the knowledge. This was just meant to be a trip for school, not a battle for the fate of the world. Blake had dreams and plans that would never come true, and it was all my fault.

"I'm so sorry, you all," I whispered, using my bandaged wrist to wipe away my tears. "I wish I would've known it would end this way. I never would have pulled you all into this."

"You didn't know. You don't have to apologize," Lea reassured me while her hand squeezed mine momentarily. "Blake wouldn't want you to. He chose to do what he could to help us. Who knows where we would all be if it hadn't been for him. But we all know that the cult would've found a way to come after us somehow, regardless of what you did."

I nodded as I continued to cry, even though I knew she was right, it would never bring him back to us. And that was what hurt the most. 

A soft knock pulled our attention away from each other, and a dark-headed nurse popped her head into the room. "I'm sorry to intrude, but would you all mind two more visitors?"

After receiving my hesitant nod, she ushered the people behind her inside. I could only blink momentarily as Darien Simms and his mother entered the room.

"As much as I hate to see you in this state, I'm glad to at least know you're alive," Kim tells me with a melancholy smile as I take in that this is the healthiest I've ever seen her. She still looked tired, and Darien kept a hand on her to hold her steady, but it was clear she was finally on the mend. 

All I could say at that moment was, "I'm sorry about your daughter."

Kim hung her head at that as she murmured, "I should be apologizing to you. If I had known that Roy had warped her brain to such an awful degree, I would've warned you all off immediately. I'm so deeply sorry for what she did to your friend."